Labour Leadership

Well, you could make a highly amusing pun about this. Discuss the leadership between one unelectable socialist and another unelectable socialist.

I am a Labour member and used my first ever general election vote in 2015 (I had thankfully just turned 18 a month before!) to vote for Labour. I really liked Miliband and believed in his policies. I thought we were bound for a slim Labour majority since we were polling well, but was really unhappy to see another Tory victory. It was completely unexpected.

It was sad to then see Miliband step down. I voted for Yvette Cooper in the leadership election. I wasn't really that confident that any of the four candidates would be amazing, but I thought Yvette and Andy were the best of the bunch, and that Yvette had maybe a slightly better chance of winning in 2020 than Andy. But I was absolutely astounded that Jeremy won... The party's leadership election system just isn't great... It means that any old geezer can win it, and any ol' person can sign up for a pound and vote. And, as a subsequent, we were left with a lackluster party leader, destining the party's chance to fail...

I wasn't happy that Jeremy won because, even at the time, I knew he wouldn't be electable. The country just rejected Miliband's more left-leaning Labour party, why on earth would the country then go for an even more left-wing party? It's common political practice that if you want to win government in Britain you're going to do better the more centrist you are. And that can have a left or right leaning, but if it's too far either way, you're simply not going to win. Jeremy can have all the inspiring and great sounding policies he likes, but they're worthless empty words if he isn't able to win government and enact them. Word without deed is dead.

And now, as time has progressed, it has become more and more evident that Jeremy is unelectable and that Labour are is set to suffer its worst defeat since 1935 in 2020, according to polls. The majority of the Labour party membership might have confidence in him, but that's about 300,000 people, which may sound like a lot but that's less than 1% of the British population, a majority of whom evidently seem to have no faith in him as leader and will not be voting for Labour in 2020 because of him.

We need a strong Labour leader who can unite the whole party AND win over the majority of the electorate. Yes, our core Labour values and principles matter, but unless they can translate into lesgilation, which can only happen with a majority Labour government in power, then it is all empty words and wasted time, and what are we left with? Another Tory victory in 2020, this time even bigger. That'll be 15 years of Tory government by 2025. As the kid of a financially struggling family, that doesn't sound very appealing (that being said, I'm hoping May's Conservative government will be a little more compassionate than Cameron's).

So in effect, Jeremy Corbyn in his proud and selfish refusal to acknowledge his failure to be a strong and uniting leader and refusal to step down is crippling the Labour party and could cause it to split in half, he is denying the country of its right to a democratic opposition to the government in the Hosue of Commons, and he is denying the country a Labour victory in 2020, thus handing over the country on a silver plate to the Tories once again.

So... The question now is... Who should lead the party instead? Well I'm glad Angela Eagle is now out of the question. What a disaster that was. And so, we're left with Owen Smith... I quite liked him and the majority of his policies. Until recently. His comments about plans for campaigning for Labour to block Brexit and keep us in the EU, despite a democratic majority vote to Leave, is disabolical, shameful and disgrace, and once again renders the party unelectable to 52% of the electorate. At this rate, I am honestly ashamed of Labour right now. It seems to me that whether we have Corbyn or Smith, we're bound for the sorest bruising in decades, and yet another Tory victory. And at this rate, I think I'd actually rather the Tories be in power than the Labour party in its current state!

This is a horrible mess that isn't going to be fixed over night. Whoever leads the party of these two now, we're doomed, and I know that I in good and moral conscience cannot vote for either of them. Unless a miracle happens between now and 2020, I won't be voting Labour. I'm not sure who I will vote for, or if perhaps I'll even spoil my ballot, but I will not vote for Corbyn's Labour and I will not vote for Smith's Labour. Simple as.

Ah well, that all being said, que sera sera. Life goes on and we'll manage. I trust that all things work together for good, whatever happens!